Eric van de Poele (born 30 September 1961 in Verviers) is a Belgian racing driver and former Formula One driver.
He participated in 29 Grands Prix, debuting on 10 March 1991. He scored no championship points and failed to make the grid 24 times.
After a difficult 1984 season in French Formula Three, van de Poele then won the Belgian and Benelux Formula Ford titles, also racing in the Belgian Touring Car Championship. He subsequently raced in German Touring Cars Championships, winning the 1987 championship despite not winning a race all season.[2] He also won the 1987 Spa 24 Hours, sharing a car with Didier Theys and Jean-Michel Martin. He also dabbled in British Formula 3. For 1989, he moved up to Formula 3000, finishing fourth, and then runner-up in 1990.
After this, he signed for the Modena Formula One team for 1991, driving their Lamborghini cars thanks to backing from long-time sponsors Lease Plan. He was unsuccessful in the first two races, failing to pre-qualify, but made it onto the grid for the 1991 San Marino Grand Prix. There he impressed in the rain, running fifth in the last lap before the car ran out of fuel, dropping him to ninth. The team, in financial difficulties, failed to build on this success, and van de Poele would not race again that year.
He then signed for Brabham in 1992, but the team were low on money. The Belgian qualified for the opening South African Grand Prix, finishing 13th, but then failed to qualify the outdated car again. He frequently matched team-mate Damon Hill in the other Brabham, however. For the Hungarian Grand Prix he switched to the promising Fondmetal team. He qualified the car at the first attempt, only to spin out. He then started an excellent 15th for the Belgian Grand Prix, finishing 10th, and qualified again for the Italian Grand Prix, only for the clutch to break. After this, Fondmetal also hit money troubles and withdrew, leaving van de Poele without a drive. Info from Wiki
